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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Athens, Georgia » U.S. National Poultry Research Center » Avian Disease and Oncology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #291148
Title: Temporal changes of microRNA gga-let-7b and gga-let-7i expression in chickens challenged with subgroup J avian leukosis virus

Author
item JI, JUN - South China Agricultural University
item SHUANG, H - South China Agricultural University
item Zhang, Huanmin
item LI, H - South China Agricultural University
item CHANG, SHUANG - Michigan State University
item MA, J - South China Agricultural University
item BI, Y - South China Agricultural University
item XIE, QINGMEI - South China Agricultural University

Submitted to: Veterinary Research Communications
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/8/2017
Publication Date: 2/11/2017
Citation: Ji, J., Shuang, H., Zhang, H., Li, H., Chang, S., Ma, J., Bi, Y., Xie, Q. 2017. Temporal changes of microRNA gga-let-7b and gga-let-7i expression in chickens challenged with subgroup J avian leukosis virus. Veterinary Research Communications. doi:10.1007/s11259-017-9681-1.

Interpretive Summary: MicroRNAs are a class of small non-coding RNA molecules about 21-22 nucleotides in length. MicroRNAs are commonly found in both plants and animals, which affect gene functions by regulating the process from genes to gene products. Two of the important microRNAs, namely gga-let-7b and gga-let-7i, were examined in chickens challenged with avian leukosis viruses. Our data suggested that both of the microRNAs may suppress tumor formation in chicken. This finding may help to develop genetic control measures to prevent avian leukosis in chickens.

Technical Abstract: Two important microRNAs, gga-let-7b and gga-let-7i were examined for the relative expression in liver and bone marrow tissues from specific pathogen free chickens that were challenged either with GD1109 or NX0101 strain of subgroup J avian leukosis virus (ALV-J). The GD1109 strain of ALV-J reportedly causes hemangioma (HE) and NX0101 reportedly causes myeloma (ML) in susceptible chickens. Temporal changes of both gga-let-7b and gga-let-7i expression in ALV-J infected chickens were observed in contrast to its counterpart of a non-infected negative control group of chickens (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01) during the first 120 days post infection. Use of the web-based computational DIANA-mirPath software(available at http://microrna.gr/mirpath), it was predicted that both gga-let-7b and gga-let-7i were involved in multiple pathways including signaling pathways, such as MAPK, TGF-beta, Notch, Wnt,mTOR, Cell cycle, P53 and Jak-STAT. Combining our experimental data with reports on the microRNAs, we suggest that both gga-let-7i and gga-let-7b may also act as tumor suppressors in chicken, especially play a critical role in tumorigenesis induced by ALV-J.